mrscat

if any consolation, i had my tonsils removed at 32 was reallly painful. Took my analgesia 30 mins before i had anything to eat to make it easier. Stuck to cornflakes and toast and chewed gum inbetween. (dont eat chocolate you have to swallow more which in turn obviously hurts more, the chocolate tends to stick to your throat). Took me 3 weeks to recover however on the plus side lost 21 pounds in those 3 weeks! sometimes i wish i still had those tonsils!

Some GP's will try and pay the least amount of money they can get away with. Because there is no national standard to what GP's pay it's all down to how much you want the job. Even if you go in at a band 5 you can then start to look at other jobs further down the road and start negoitating once you have got more experience of primary care within the uk. Getting your foot in the door is the main thing at this present moment in time both within the nhs and in the primary care setting.

Currently work as a practice nurse in a GP surgery part time. Very very different from hospital envirnoment, but very rewarding and interesting and a very steep learning curve. If your going to be employed by the GP practice themselves you will have to negotiate your rate of pay, sickness pay, annual leave,etc, not all GP's follow the NHS Agenda for Change pay scales and Terms and Conditions. Be aware of what the job involves. You will have to give the childhood immunisations, some GP's give travel vaccinations too. You will be undertaking smear tests on patients. If you have the qualifications you will undertake family planning. Lastly you will be reasponsible for the QOF points. So you will be undertaking all the chronic disease mangement, CHD, diabetes, COPD, Asthma, mental health, etc plus lots of other bits and bobs. With the government changing the way the health service is funded you will need to be aware of this as well. Will you be in a large practice with other practice nurses to help supervise or will you be on your own? The remit of a practice nurse is very wide and varied but you get to know your patients. As long as you have a supportive GP and Practice Manager everything should fall into place. If there not supportive it can be hell

have only just seen this post, how did you get on?

nobody really bothers with letters after their names to be honest as long as you have put down your educational qualifications thats all that matters, can sometimes be seen as pretensious putting letters after names.

There are some variences between hospitals and wards with regard to what times shifts start but an early shift is usually 07.15 am - 3.15 pm late shift is usually 1.15 pm - 9.15 pm a night shift is 9.15 pm - 07.15 am so just say for this week you were working monday - friday monday early shift so 07.15 am - 3.15pm tuesday late shift so 1.15 pm - 9.15 pm wednesday late shift 1.15 pm - 9.15 pm thursday early 07.15 am - 3.15 pm friday late 1.15 pm - 9.15 pm days off saturday and sunday the following week might go like this days off mon and tuesday wednesday late shift thursday early shift friday early shift saturday late shift sunday late shift monday early shift tuesday late shift day of wed thurs friday late shift saturday early sunday early and so on

I work in the uk, so the rules maybe a bit different, if you have seizures that are continuing you are unable to have direct patient contact, it is too much of a health and safety issue. Some nurses go into a more of an admin role and teaching roles, we also have a national call centre operated by nurses who give direct advice over the phone to people who are worried about their health. If you have been sezuire free for two years you would then be able to go back to direct patient care as long as you were never left alone on a ward etc. wishing you luck jackie

All it means is that she cannot do any 'nursing' stuff, she is still entitiled to run a business. She can order vaccines but wont be able to vaccinate, she wont be able to do sickness absence but can delegate them to you or the dr. If she does do anything like that she is in breach of her NMC Code of Conduct, which will make her re-registration harder to obtain.

the new pension scheme is voluntary, you can either stay in the one we have now or transfer over to the new one. Everyone will get an imaginary pension with both pensions to see which one will be best for them. The only advantage with the new scheme as i see it is that you can go part time near the end of your career, and they will count your best 3 years of salary for you pension (i think in the previous 10 years rather than at present). For me anyway, i am going to have to work till i'm 60 full time anyway. The way I'm looking at it, is that my mum died at 72 so if I retire at 60 I have 12 years to live and enjoy myself, after that dont give a toss. The government then has to pay me 12 years of pension. However if I retire at 65 I will only have 7 years to enjoy myself and therefore save the government 5 years of additional pension payouts. Plus I dont know how decrepid I will be at 65. This is my basis of how I am making my pension plan. Not very logical but hey ho! You have to base it on something.

yes, you can take time out of your course and just rejoin at a later date, depending on how long you take out can be the cohort after or after that ect.

I currently work in an Occupational Health dept in a large teaching hospital. The only jobs you would not be considered for is theatre nursing and a&e. Anywhere else is ok, including itu, practice nursing, x ray ect. EPP is considered where you fingers are entering an oriface where there is blood and you cannot see your fingertips once inside.

moving to rockhampton in queensland aus to work for mercy aged care. Coming from the UK just wondering what aged care is like and has anyone got any experience of working for mercy aged care and what they are like as an employer. thanks for all your replies